Nicolo Bulega completed another dominant victory as he led from start to finish in the WorldSBK Superpole race at Jerez.
With rain clouds threatening before the start of the race, the conditions remained constant throughout which allowed Bulega to take victory, and break the record for most podium finishes in a single WorldSBK campaign.
Bulega held his position from pole as he retained the lead on the run down to the first corner, while Sam Lowes stayed in front of Iker Lecuona despite the factory Ducati rider’s better start.
However, Lecuona didn’t take too long to strike, using his momentum from the first half of the lap to pass the MarcVDS rider into second place.
The other important overtakes made on Lap 1 both came from the Barni Spark Ducati racers as Yari Montella passed Alex Lowes and Alvaro Bautista pulled a move on Lorenzo Baldassarri
Bautista continued his fast start on the second lap with a brave pass on Alberto Surra at Turn 6, which forced the rookie slightly wide as the Spaniard claimed sixth.
As the expected rain failed to show up, it was a simple path for Bulega to claim his second victory of the weekend as he crossed the line with a margin of 0.797s seconds.
With his victory, Bulega earned his 35th podium finish of the season which saw him surpass Jonathan Rea’s 2019 record of most podiums in a single campaign.
Lecuona finished second after overcoming some of his Saturday struggles, while Sam Lowes completed the podium in third.
Montella remained fourth after his early overtake on Alex Lowes, who was the only non-Ducati rider inside the top five.
Bautista closed in the late stages, but was unable to get close to the Bimota ahead, as he took sixth while Baldassarri was seventh.
Surra faded in the latter stages of the Superpole race, but finished eighth after a four-way battle, with Xavi Vierge eventually picking up the final point in ninth.
Tommy Bridewell was narrowly 10th ahead of Miguel Oliveira in 11th, meanwhile 12-placed Axel Bassani had a close finish to get in front of Garrett Gerloff over the line.
Stefano Manzi took the chequered flag in 14th as Jake Dixon completed the top 15.
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